Glossary of ancient Roman religion

The vocabulary of ancient Roman religion was highly specialized. Its study affords important information about the religion, traditions and beliefs of the ancient Romans. This legacy is conspicuous in European cultural history in its influence on later juridical and religious vocabulary in Europe, particularly of the Christian Church. This glossary provides explanations of concepts as they were expressed in Latin pertaining to religious practices and beliefs, with links to articles on major topics such as priesthoods, forms of divination, and rituals.

For theonyms, or the names and epithets of gods, see List of Roman deities. For public religious holidays, see Roman festivals. For temples see the List of Ancient Roman temples. Individual landmarks of religious topography in ancient Rome are not included in this list; see Roman temple.

Glossary

A

abominari

The verb abominari ("to avert an omen", from ab-, "away, off," and ominari, "to pronounce on an omen") was a term of augury for an action that rejects or averts an unfavourable omen indicated by a signum, "sign". The noun is abominatio, from which English "abomination" derives. At the taking of formally solicited auspices (auspicia impetrativa), the observer was required to acknowledge any potentially bad sign occurring within the templum he was observing, regardless of the interpretation. He might, however, take certain actions in order to ignore the signa, including avoiding the sight of them, and interpreting them as favourable. The latter tactic required promptness, wit and skill based on discipline and learning. Thus the omen had no validity apart from the observation of it.

aedes

The aedes was the dwelling place of a god. It was thus a structure that housed the deity's image, distinguished from the templum or sacred district. Aedes is one of several Latin words that can be translated as "shrine" or "temple"; see also delubrum and fanum. For instance, the Temple of Vesta, as it is called in English, was in Latin an aedes. See also the diminutive aedicula, a small shrine.

Ruins of the aedes of Vesta

In his work On Architecture, Vitruvius always uses the word templum in the technical sense of a space defined through augury, with aedes the usual word for the building itself. The design of a deity's aedes, he writes, should be appropriate to the characteristics of the deity. For a celestial deity such as Jupiter, Coelus, Sol or Luna, the building should be open to the sky; an aedes for a god embodying virtus (valour), such as Minerva, Mars, or Hercules, should be Doric and without frills; the Corinthian order is suited for goddesses such as Venus, Flora, Proserpina and the Lymphae; and the Ionic is a middle ground between the two for Juno, Diana, and Father Liber. Thus in theory, though not always in practice, architectural aesthetics had a theological dimension.

The word aedilis (aedile), a public official, is related by etymology; among the duties of the aediles was the overseeing of public works, including the building and maintenance of temples. The temple (aedes) of Flora, for instance, was built in 241 BC by two aediles acting on Sibylline oracles. The plebeian aediles had their headquarters at the aedes of Ceres.

ager

In religious usage, ager (territory, country, land, region) was terrestrial space defined for the purposes of augury in relation to auspicia. There were five kinds of ager: Romanus, Gabinus, peregrinus, hosticus and incertus. The ager Romanus originally included the urban space outside the pomerium and the surrounding countryside. According to Varro, the ager Gabinus pertained to the special circumstances of the oppidum of Gabii, which was the first to sign a sacred treaty (pax) with Rome. The ager peregrinus was other territory that had been brought under treaty (pacatus). Ager hosticus meant foreign territory; incertus, "uncertain" or "undetermined," that is, not falling into one of the four defined categories. The powers and actions of magistrates were based on and constrained by the nature of the ager on which they stood, and ager in more general usage meant a territory as defined legally or politically. The ager Romanus could not be extended outside Italy (terra Italia).

Altar (ara) from Roman Spain

ara

Main article: Ara (ancient Rome)

The focal point of sacrifice was the altar (ara, plural arae). Most altars throughout the city of Rome and in the countryside would have been simple, open-air structures; they may have been located within a sacred precinct (templum), but often without an aedes housing a cult image. An altar that received food offerings might also be called a mensa, "table."

Perhaps the best-known Roman altar is the elaborate and Greek-influenced Ara Pacis, which has been called "the most representative work of Augustan art." Other major public altars included the Ara Maxima.

arbor felix

See also: Ficus Ruminalis

Some trees were felix and others infelix. A tree (arbor) was categorized as felix if it was under the protection of the heavenly gods (di superi). The adjective felix here means not only literally "fruitful" but more broadly "auspicious". Macrobius lists arbores felices (plural) as the oak (four species thereof), the birch, the hazelnut, the sorbus, the white fig, the pear, the apple, the grape, the plum, the cornus and the lotus. The oak was sacred to Jupiter, and twigs of oak were used by the Vestals to ignite the sacred fire in March every year. Also among the felices were the olive tree, a twig of which was affixed to the hat of the Flamen Dialis, and the laurel and the poplar, which crowned the Salian priests.

Arbores infelices were those under the protection of chthonic gods or those gods who had the power of turning away misfortune (avertentium). As listed by Tarquitius Priscus in his lost ostentarium on trees, these were buckthorn, red cornel, fern, black fig, "those that bear a black berry and black fruit," holly, woodland pear, butcher's broom, briar, and brambles."

attrectare

The verb attrectare ("to touch, handle, lay hands on") referred in specialized religious usage to touching sacred objects while performing cultic actions. Attrectare had a positive meaning only in reference to the actions of the sacerdotes populi Romani ("priests of the Roman people"). It had the negative meaning of "contaminate" (= contaminare) or pollute when referring to the handling of sacred objects by those not authorized, ordained, or ritually purified.

augur

An augur (Latin plural augures) was an official and priest who solicited and interpreted the will of the gods regarding a proposed action. The augur ritually defined a templum, or sacred space, declared the purpose of his consultation, offered sacrifice, and observed the signs that were sent in return, particularly the actions and flight of birds. If the augur received unfavourable signs, he could suspend, postpone or cancel the undertaking (obnuntiatio). "Taking the auspices" was an important part of all major official business, including inaugurations, senatorial debates, legislation, elections and war, and was held to be an ancient prerogative of Regal and patrician magistrates. Under the Republic, this right was extended to other magistrates. After 300 BC, plebeians could become augurs.

auguraculum

The solicitation of formal auspices required the marking out of ritual space (auguraculum) from within which the augurs observed the templum, including the construction of an augural tent or hut (tabernaculum). There were three such sites in Rome: on the citadel (arx), on the Quirinal Hill, and on the Palatine Hill. Festus said that originally the auguraculum was in fact the arx. It faced east, situating the north on the augur's left or lucky side. A magistrate who was serving as a military commander also took daily auspices, and thus a part of camp-building while on campaign was the creation of a tabernaculum augurale. This augural tent was the center of religious and legal proceedings within the camp.

augurium

Augurium (plural auguria) is an abstract noun that pertains to the augur. It seems to mean variously: the "sacral investiture" of the augur; the ritual acts and actions of the augurs; augural law (ius augurale); and recorded signs whose meaning had already been established. The word is rooted in the IE stem *aug-, "to increase," and possibly an archaic Latin neuter noun *augus, meaning "that which is full of mystic force." As the sign that manifests the divine will, the augurium for a magistrate was valid for a year; a priest's, for his lifetime; for a temple, it was perpetual.

The distinction between augurium and auspicium is often unclear. Auspicia is the observation of birds as signs of divine will, a practice held to have been established by Romulus, first king of Rome, while the institution of augury was attributed to his successor Numa. For Servius, an augurium is the same thing as auspicia impetrativa, a body of signs sought through prescribed ritual means. Some scholars think auspicia would belong more broadly to the magistracies and the patres while the augurium would be limited to the rex sacrorum and the major priesthoods.

Ancient sources record three auguria: the augurium salutis in which every year the gods were asked whether it was fas (permissible, right) to ask for the safety of the Roman people (August 5); the augurium canarium, a dog sacrifice (see also supplicia canum) to promote the maturation of grain crops, held in the presence of the pontiffs as well as the augurs "when ears of wheat have already formed but are still in the sheaths"; and the vernisera auguria mentioned by Festus, which should have been a springtime propitiary rite held at the time of the harvest (auguria messalia).

auspex

The auspex, plural auspices, is a diviner who reads omens from the observed flight of birds (avi-, from avis, "bird", with -spex, "observer", from spicere). See auspicia following and auspice.

auspicia

The auspicia (au- = avis, "bird"; -spic-, "watch") were originally signs derived from observing the flight of birds within the templum of the sky. Auspices are taken by an augur. Originally they were the prerogative of the patricians, but the college of augurs was opened to plebeians in 300 BC. Only magistrates were in possession of the auspicia publica, with the right and duty to take the auspices pertaining to the Roman state. Favorable auspices marked a time or location as auspicious, and were required for important ceremonies or events, including elections, military campaigns and pitched battles.

According to Festus, there were five kinds of auspicia to which augurs paid heed: ex caelo, celestial signs such as thunder and lightning; ex avibus, signs offered by birds; ex tripudiis, signs produced by the actions of certain sacred chickens; ex quadrupedibus, signs from the behavior of four-legged animals; and ex diris, threatening portents. In official state augury at Rome, only the auspicia ex caelo and ex avibus were employed.

The taking of the auspices required ritual silence (silentium). Watching for auspices was called spectio or servare de caelo. The appearance of expected signs resulted in nuntiatio, or if they were unfavourable obnuntiatio. If unfavourable auspices were observed, the business at hand was stopped by the official observer, who declared alio die ("on another day").

The practice of observing bird omens was common to many ancient peoples predating and contemporaneous with Rome, including the Greeks, Celts, and Germans.

auspicia impetrativa

Auspicia impetrativa were signs that were solicited under highly regulated ritual conditions (see spectio and servare de caelo) within the templum. The type of auspices required for convening public assemblies were impetrativa, and magistrates had the "right and duty" to seek these omens actively. These auspices could only be sought from an auguraculum, a ritually constructed augural tent or "tabernacle" (tabernaculum). Contrast auspicia oblativa.

auspicia maiora

The right of observing the "greater auspices" was conferred on a Roman magistrate holding imperium, perhaps by a Lex curiata de imperio, although scholars are not agreed on the finer points of law. A censor had auspicia maxima. It is also thought that the flamines maiores were distinguished from the minores by their right to take the auspicia maiora; see Flamen.

auspicia oblativa

Signs that occurred without deliberately being sought through formal augural procedure were auspicia oblativa. These unsolicited signs were regarded as sent by a deity or deities to express either approval or disapproval for a particular undertaking. The prodigy (prodigium) was one form of unfavourable oblativa. Contrast auspicia impetrativa.

auspicia privata

Private and domestic religion was linked to divine signs as state religion was. It was customary in patrician families to take the auspices for any matter of consequence such as marriages, travel, and important business. The scant information about auspicia privata in ancient authors suggests that the taking of private auspices was not different in essence from that of public auspices: absolute silence was required, and the person taking the auspices could ignore unfavourable or disruptive events by feigning not to have perceived them. In matters pertaining to the family or individual, both lightning and exta (entrails) might yield signs for privati, private citizens not authorized to take official auspices. Among his other duties, the Pontifex Maximus advised privati as well as the official priests about prodigies and their forestalling. By the time of Cicero, the taking of private auspices was falling into disuse.

averruncare

In pontifical usage, the verb averruncare, "to avert," denotes a ritual action aimed at averting a misfortune intimated by an omen. Bad omens (portentaque prodigiaque mala) are to be burnt, using trees that are in the tutelage of underworld or "averting" gods (see arbores infelices above). Varro says that the god who presides over the action of averting is Averruncus.

B

bellum iustum

A "just war" was a war considered justifiable by the principles of fetial law (ius fetiale). Because war could bring about religious pollution, it was in itself nefas, "wrong," and could incur the wrath of gods unless iustum, "just". The requirements for a just war were both formal and substantive. As a formal matter, the war had to be declared according to the procedures of the ius fetiale. On substantive grounds, a war required a "just cause," which might include rerum repetitio, retaliation against another people for pillaging, or a breach of or unilateral recession from a treaty; or necessity, as in the case of repelling an invasion. See also Jus ad bellum.

C

caerimonia

The English word "ceremony" derives from the Latin caerimonia or caeremonia, a word of obscure etymology first found in literature and inscriptions from the time of Cicero (mid-1st century BC), but thought to be of much greater antiquity. Its meaning varied over time. Cicero used caerimonia at least 40 times, in three or four different senses: "inviolability" or "sanctity", a usage also of Tacitus; "punctilious veneration", in company with cura (carefulness, concern); more commonly in the plural caerimoniae, to mean "ritual prescriptions" or "ritual acts." The plural form is endorsed by Roman grammarians.

Hendrik Wagenvoort maintained that caerimoniae were originally the secret ritual instructions laid down by Numa, which are described as statae et sollemnes, "established and solemn." These were interpreted and supervised by the College of Pontiffs, flamens, rex sacrorum and the Vestals. Later, caerimoniae might refer also to other rituals, including foreign cults. These prescribed rites "unite the inner subject with the external religious object", binding human and divine realms. The historian Valerius Maximus makes clear that the caerimoniae require those performing them to attain a particular mental-spiritual state (animus, "intention"), and emphasizes the importance of caerimoniae in the dedication and first sentence of his work. In Valerius's version of the Gallic siege of Rome, the Vestals and the Flamen Quirinalis rescue Rome's sacred objects (sacra) by taking them to Caere; thus preserved, the rites take their name from the place. Although this etymology makes a meaningful narrative connection for Valerius, it is unlikely to be correct in terms of modern scientific linguistics. An Etruscan origin has sometimes been proposed. Wagenvoort thought that caerimonia derived from caerus, "dark" in the sense of "hidden", hence meaning "darknesses, secrets."

In his Etymologiae, Isidore of Seville says that the Greek equivalent is orgia, but derives the word from carendo, "lacking", and says that some think caerimoniae should be used of Jewish observances, specifically the dietary law that requires abstaining from or "lacking" certain foods.

calator

The calatores were assistants who carried out day-to-day business on behalf of the senior priests of the state such as the flamines maiores. A calator was a public slave. Festus derives the word from the Greek verb kalein, "to call."

Augustus, capite velato

capite velato

At the traditional public rituals of ancient Rome, officiants prayed, sacrificed, offered libations, and practiced augury capite velato, "with the head covered" by a fold of the toga drawn up from the back. This covering of the head is a distinctive feature of Roman rite in contrast with Etruscan practice or ritus graecus, "Greek rite." In Roman art, the covered head is a symbol of pietas and the individual's status as a pontifex, augur or other priest.

It has been argued that the Roman expression of piety capite velato influenced Paul's prohibition against Christian men praying with covered heads: "Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head."

carmen

In classical Latin, carmen usually means "song, poem, ode." In magico-religious usage, a carmen (plural carmina) is a chant, hymn, spell, or charm. In essence "a verbal utterance sung for ritualistic purposes", the carmen is characterized by formulaic expression, redundancy, and rhythm. Fragments from two archaic priestly hymns are preserved, the Carmen Arvale of the Arval Brethren and the Carmina Saliaria of the Salii. The Carmen Saeculare of Horace, though self-consciously literary in technique, was also a hymn, performed by a chorus at the Saecular Games of 17 BC and expressing the Apollonian ideology of Augustus.

A carmen malum or maleficum is a potentially harmful magic spell. A fragment of the Twelve Tables reading si malum carmen incantassit ("if anyone should chant an evil spell") shows that it was a longstanding concern of Roman law to suppress malevolent magic. A carmen sepulchrale is a spell that evokes the dead from their tombs; a carmen veneficum, a "poisonous" charm. Through magical practice, the word carmen comes to mean also the object on which a spell is inscribed, hence a charm in the physical sense.

castus, castitas

Castus is an adjective meaning morally pure or guiltless (English "chaste"), hence pious or ritually pure in a religious sense. Castitas is the abstract noun. Various etymologies have been proposed, among them two IE stems: *k'(e)stos meaning "he who conforms to the prescriptions of rite"; or *kas-, from which derives the verb careo, "I defice, am deprived of, have none..." i.e. vitia. In Roman religion, the purity of ritual and those who perform it is paramount: one who is correctly cleansed and castus in religious preparation and performance is likely to please the gods. Ritual error is a pollutant; it vitiates the performance and risks the gods' anger. Castus and castitas are attributes of the sacerdos (priest), but substances and objects can also be ritually castus.

cinctus Gabinus

The cinctus Gabinus ("Gabine cinch") was a way of wearing the toga thought to have originated in the Latin town of Gabii. It was also later claimed to have been part of Etruscan priestly dress. The cinch allowed free use of both arms, essential when the toga was still worn during combat and later important in some religious contexts, particularly those involving use of the toga to cover the head (capite velato). The style's ancient martial associations caused it to be worn during Roman declarations of war. It was also used by the priest or official charged with guiding the plow creating the sulcus primigenius during the rituals attending the foundation of new colonies. In Latin, cinctus Gabinus could refer to the cinch itself or to the entire toga thus worn. In religious contexts, such a toga was also said to be worn ritu Gabino ("in the Gabine rite").

clavum figere

Clavo trabali figere ("to fasten or fix with a beam (large) nail") was an expression that referred to the fixing or clinching of a matter. A nail was one of the attributes of the goddess Necessitas and of the Etruscan goddess Athrpa (Greek Atropos). According to Livy, every year in the temple of Nortia, the Etruscan counterpart of Fortuna, a nail was driven in to mark the time. In Rome, the senior magistrate on the Ides of September drove a nail called the clavus annalis ("year-nail") into the wall of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The ceremony occurred on the dies natalis ("birthday" or anniversary of dedication) of the temple, when a banquet for Jupiter (Epulum Jovis) was also held. The nail-driving ceremony, however, took place in a templum devoted to Minerva, on the right side of the aedes of Jupiter, because the concept of "number" was invented by Minerva and the ritual predated the common use of written letters.

The importance of this ritual is lost in obscurity, but in the early Republic it is associated with the appointment of a dictator clavi figendi causa, "dictator for the purpose of driving the nail," one of whom was appointed for the years 363, 331, 313, and 263 BC. Livy attributes this practice to religio, religious scruple or obligation. It may be that in addition to an annual ritual, there was a "fixing" during times of pestilence or civil discord that served as a piaculum. Livy says that in 363, a plague had been ravaging Rome for two years. It was recalled that a plague had once been broken when a dictator drove a ritual nail, and the senate appointed one for that purpose. The ritual of "driving the nail" was among those revived and reformed by Augustus, who in 1 AD transferred it to the new Temple of Mars Ultor. Henceforth a censor fixed the nail at the end of his term.

collegium

A collegium ("joined by law"), plural collegia, was any association with a legal personality. The priestly colleges oversaw religious traditions, and until 300 BC only patricians were eligible for membership. When plebeians began to be admitted, the size of the colleges was expanded. By the Late Republic, three collegia wielded greater authority than the others, with a fourth coming to prominence during the reign of Augustus. The four great religious corporations (quattuor amplissima collegia) were:

• Pontifices, the College of Pontiffs headed by the Pontifex Maximus;
• Augures;
• Quindecimviri sacris faciundis, the fifteen priests in charge of the Sibylline Books;
• Septemviri epulonum, the board of seven priests who organized public banquets for religious holidays.

Augustus was a member of all four collegia, but limited membership for any other senator to one.

In Roman society, a collegium might also be a trade guild or neighborhood association; see Collegium (ancient Rome).

comitia calata

The comitia calata ("calate assemblies") were non-voting assemblies (comitia) called for religious purposes. The verb calare, originally meaning "to call," was a technical term of pontifical usage, found also in calendae (Calends) and calator. According to Aulus Gellius, these comitia were held in the presence of the college of pontiffs in order to inaugurate the rex (the king in the Regal Period or the rex sacrorum in the Republic) or the flamines. The pontifex maximus auspiciated and presided; assemblies over which annually elected magistrates presided are never calata, nor are meetings for secular purposes or other elections even with a pontiff presiding.

The comitia calata were organized by curiae or centuriae. The people were summoned to comitia calata to witness the reading of wills, or the oath by which sacra were renounced (detestatio sacrorum). They took no active role and were only present to observe as witnesses.

Mommsen thought the calendar abbreviation QRCF, given once as Q. Rex C. F. and taken as Quando Rex Comitiavit Fas, designated a day when it was religiously permissible for the rex to "call" for a comitium, hence the comitia calata.

commentarii augurales

The Commentaries of the Augurs were written collections probably of the decreta and responsa of the college of augurs. Some scholarship, however, maintains that the commentarii were precisely not the decreta and responsa. The commentaries are to be distinguished from the augurs' libri reconditi, texts not for public use. The books are mentioned by Cicero, Festus, and Servius Danielis. Livy includes several examples of the augurs' decreta and responsa in his history, presumably taken from the commentarii.

commentarii pontificum

The Commentaries of the Pontiffs contained a record of decrees and official proceedings of the College of Pontiffs. Priestly literature was one of the earliest written forms of Latin prose, and included rosters, acts (acta), and chronicles kept by the various collegia, as well as religious procedure. It was often occultum genus litterarum, an arcane form of literature to which by definition only priests had access. The commentarii, however, may have been available for public consultation, at least by senators, because the rulings on points of law might be cited as precedent. The public nature of the commentarii is asserted by Jerzy Linderski in contrast to libri reconditi, the secret priestly books.

The commentarii survive only through quotation or references in ancient authors. These records are not readily distinguishable from the libri pontificales; some scholars maintain that the terms commentarii and libri for the pontifical writings are interchangeable. Those who make a distinction hold that the libri were the secret archive containing rules and precepts of the ius sacrum (holy law), texts of spoken formulae, and instructions on how to perform ritual acts, while the commentarii were the responsa (opinions and arguments) and decreta (binding explications of doctrine) that were available for consultation. Whether or not the terms can be used to distinguish two types of material, the priestly documents would have been divided into those reserved for internal use by the priests themselves, and those that served as reference works on matters external to the college. Collectively, these titles would have comprised all matters of pontifical law, ritual, and cult maintenance, along with prayer formularies and temple statutes. See also libri pontificales and libri augurales.

coniectura

Coniectura is the reasoned but speculative interpretation of signs presented unexpectedly, that is, of novae res, "novel information." These "new signs" are omens or portents not previously observed, or not observed under the particular set of circumstances at hand. Coniectura is thus the kind of interpretation used for ostenta and portenta as constituting one branch of the "Etruscan discipline"; contrast observatio as applied to the interpretation of fulgura (thunder and lightning) and exta (entrails). It was considered an ars, a "method" or "art" as distinguished from disciplina, a formal body of teachings which required study or training.

The origin of the Latin word coniectura suggests the process of making connections, from the verb conicio, participle coniectum (con-, "with, together", and iacio, "throw, put"). Coniectura was also a rhetorical term applied to forms of argumentation, including court cases. The English word "conjecture" derives from coniectura.

consecratio

Consecratio was the ritual act that resulted in the creation of an aedes, a shrine that housed a cult image, or an ara, an altar. Jerzy Linderski insists that the consecratio should be distinguished from the inauguratio, that is, the ritual by which the augurs established a sacred place (locus) or templum (sacred precinct). The consecration was performed by a pontiff reciting a formula from the libri pontificales, the pontifical books. One component of consecration was the dedicatio, or dedication, a form of ius publicum (public law) carried out by a magistrate representing the will of the Roman people. The pontiff was responsible for the consecration proper.

cultus

Cicero defined religio as cultus deorum, "the cultivation of the gods." The "cultivation" necessary to maintain a specific deity was that god's cultus, "cult," and required "the knowledge of giving the gods their due" (scientia colendorum deorum). The noun cultus originates from the past participle of the verb colo, colere, colui, cultus, "to tend, take care of, cultivate," originally meaning "to dwell in, inhabit" and thus "to tend, cultivate land (ager); to practice agriculture," an activity fundamental to Roman identity even when Rome as a political center had become fully urbanized. Cultus is often translated as "cult", without the negative connotations the word may have in English, or with the Anglo-Saxon word "worship", but it implies the necessity of active maintenance beyond passive adoration. Cultus was expected to matter to the gods as a demonstration of respect, honor, and reverence; it was an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion (do ut des). St. Augustine echoes Cicero's formulation when he declares that "religio is nothing other than the cultus of God."

D

decretum

Decreta (plural) were the binding explications of doctrine issued by the official priests on questions of religious practice and interpretation. They were preserved in written form and archived. Compare responsum.

delubrum

A delubrum was a shrine. Varro says it was a building that housed the image of a deus, "god", and emphasizes the human role in dedicating the statue. According to Varro, the delubrum was the oldest form of an aedes, a structure that housed a god. It is an ambiguous term for both the building and the surrounding area ubi aqua currit ("where water runs"), according to the etymology of the antiquarian Cincius. Festus gives the etymology of delubrum as fustem delibratum, "stripped stake," that is, a tree deprived of its bark (liber) by a lightning bolt, as such trees in archaic times were venerated as gods. The meaning of the term later extended to denote the shrine built to house the stake. Compare aedes, fanum, and templum.

Isidore connected the delubrum with the verb diluere, "to wash", describing it as a "spring-shrine", sometimes with annexed pool, where people would wash before entering, thus comparable to a Christian baptismal font.

detestatio sacrorum

When a person passed from one gens to another, as for instance by adoption, he renounced the religious duties (sacra) he had previously held in order to assume those of the family he was entering. The ritual procedure of detestatio sacrorum was enacted before a calate assembly.

deus, dea, di, dii

Deus, "god"; dea, "goddess", plural deae; di or dii, "gods", plural, or "deities", of mixed gender. The Greek equivalent is theos, which the Romans translated with deus. Servius says that deus or dea is a "generic term" (generale nomen) for all gods. In his lost work Antiquitates rerum divinarum, assumed to have been based on pontifical doctrine, Varro classified dii as certi, incerti, praecipui or selecti, i.e. "deities whose function could be ascertained", those whose function was unknown or indeterminate, main or selected gods. Compare divus. For etymological discussion, see Deus and Dyeus. See also List of Roman deities.

devotio

The devotio was an extreme form of votum in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to chthonic deities in exchange for a victory. The most extended description of the ritual is given by Livy, regarding the self-sacrifice of Decius Mus. The English word "devotion" derives from the Latin. For another votum that might be made in the field by a general, see evocatio.

dies imperii

A Roman emperor's dies imperii was the date on which he assumed imperium, that is, the anniversary of his accession as emperor. The date was observed annually with renewed oaths of loyalty and